Repeat offender attempts to evade police in Orange

A repeat offender in Orange drove through parking lots and down side streets attempting to evade police before they finally caught up with the man and arrested him on May 8 at about 7 p.m., police report.

According to a report from the Orange Police Department, Officer James Roy was on patrol in the area of North 14th Street and West Burton Avenue in Orange when he observed a white 1993 Buick four-door passenger car traveling west on West Burton displaying expired registration and inspection stickers. When the officer turned his patrol vehicle around to make a traffic stop, the driver of the Buick "appeared to speed up and quickly turn to the north into the Kroger's parking lot located at 1600 N. 16th St." in what the officer believed to be an attempt to evade him, Roy reports.

The officer then activated his emergency lights and entered the Kroger parking lot to search for the vehicle. He reportedly observed the Buick exit the lot and turn east on West Link Avenue from North 15th Street. That is when the officer reports that he realized the vehicle was one previously stopped in a separate incident and driven by a known suspect, 27-year-old Derrick Armstrong. The driver of the vehicle continued to ignore the officer's overhead lights and signals, driving toward a residence in the 1600 block of North 9th Street where the vehicle eventually came to a stop.

Once stopped, the officer drew his service weapon and approached the Buick, ordering the driver out of the car. Armstrong exited the vehicle with his hands up, Roy reports, and was placed under arrest for evading detention with a motor vehicle with a prior felony due to a previous evading charge against the suspect from 2007.

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